The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-10-26
A SINKING FARM.
A TRACT OF LAND THAT IS
SLOWLY DISAPPEARING.
Queer Seismic Disturbance a Few
Miles from Sterling, IlL-FarIn-
ers Puzzled to Find a Cause
for the Phenomenon.

A Sterling QTI.) letter to the Chicago
Herald says: The people of this locality
have been for some time considerably
exercised over an earthly phenomenon,
visible about four miles due north Of our
little city, the exploitation of which is
utterly beyond their ken. Elkhorn
Creek is O stream which meanders
for about forty miles through the
most fertile portion of this continent,
finally emptying itself into Rock River
at point about four miles west of
Sterlin g. Along its course are some of
the most picturesque Of spots-nearly
perpendicular bluffs of bald rock here
sloping, verdure- clad banks there; now
forest of majestic oaks reach to the
very waters edge; then the scene opens
upon broad undulatosy prairie dotted
with farm houses, orchards and fields
of wavy grain. 1t is hard by this beau
tiful stream, whose width and copious
water supply entitle it willingly to the
honor of being denominateda river, that
the phenomenon occurred, or is occur
ring. It is o. sinking Of the land-a SUBJ
sidence that has been going on ever
since April 14,, 1885, On that night,
Benjamin Bressler; whose Little, grist
mill is run by the waters of the Elkhorn.
was awakened from sound sleep by
loud though rumbling noise, and by the
rattling of the windows as well as
general rocking of his little cottage. He
knows nothing of seismic disturbances,
and although he spoke Of the occurrence
to such of his neigh5ors as brought grain
to his mill, it never occurred to- him
there might be results manifest in old
earth about him.. which for the half
century of his residence on it and in
this precise locslity had behaved itself
seemly and showed no disposition to ne
cede from his view.
A few weeks later, the frost having
disappeared, he instructed his hired man
to plow small field lying on the south
side of road running by his cottage, and
was astonished an hour later when the
man approached the mill and informed
him that portion of the field had sunk
en- ''three or four feet" as he said, eswith
great cracks alongside its edges what
seems to run clean down to nowheres. "
And this was true. The news soon
spread, and many visited the spot. In
terest in the phenomenon might have died
out, because men grow accustomed to
anything, but the sinking has been slow
ly going on ever since. A day OF two
ago your correspondent visited the de-
pressed spot, and observed that it was
about five inches lower than when he saw
it some three months since.
The depression is now about five feet
in depth, and its east boundary is about
sixty feet from the waters of the creek.
It's greatest width is about seventy-fve
feet, and its length, north to south, about
five hundred feet. The sixty feet of
earth between the creek and the sunken
area is not disturbed in the slightest.
The greater part of the depressed land is
covered with trees, which, formerly erect,
now incline without exception westerly
at an angle of abont forty-fve degrees:
Many have been at great pains to de-
termine if the subsidence is due to the
influence of the waters of the creek, but
closest search up and down the stream
for miles fails to show any subterranean
inflow or outflow. At the point of dis
turbance the land is about sixty teet
above the level of the water.
Is the cause seismic, or is it due to
aqueous agency2 The miller has puz-
zled his head over the knotty problem in
vain for long time.